Study: Hurricane Maria death toll could be over 4,000 in Puerto Rico, despite official claims of 64 deaths

Study: Hurricane Maria death toll could be over 4,000 in Puerto Rico, despite official claims of 64 deaths

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Updated: 1:44 PM EDT May 29, 2018

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WEBVTT STEWART: EIGHT MONTHS AGO, HURRICANE MARIA CAME TO THIS ISLAND CAUSING MASSIVE DAMAGE. NEIGHBORS ARE STILL COMING TOGETHER TO HELP CLEAN UP DEBRIS. WHERE WE ARE STANDING USED TO BE UNDERWATER. MANY NEIGHBORS STOOD IN THEIR SECOND LEVEL BALCONY. THE PEOPLE TOLD US IT HAS TAKEN MONTHS TO RECOVER. WE SPEAK WITH THEM AND A CENTRAL FLORIDA VETERAN WHO IS HERE TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE RECOVER. WE WILL TALK WITH SOME PEOPLE GREATLY AFFECTED BY THE STORM AND WILL GIVE YOU LIVE REPORTS MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY AS HURRICANE SEASON IS AROUND THE CORNER. SANIKA: THIS IS JUST ONE OF MANY STORIES WE WILL BE SEEING FROM PUERTO RICO THIS WEE

Study: Hurricane Maria death toll could be over 4,000 in Puerto Rico, despite official claims of 64 deaths

A Harvard study published in the New England Journal of Medicine casts doubt on the U.S. government's official number of deaths recorded in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Last December, in the last publicly released death toll numbers, it was reported that 64 people were killed on the island as a result of the storm. However, the Harvard study suggests that at least 4,645 people died in the storm.

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“Our results indicate that the official death count of 64 is a substantial underestimate of the true burden of mortality after Hurricane Maria,” researchers wrote.

Government officials have not yet commented on the possibility the number of 64 recorded deaths could be grossly inaccurate.

According to the Washington Post, the study found that disruptions to elderly health-care and loss of basic utility services significantly impacted the chronically ill on the island.

Researchers calculated the numbers by surveying more than 3,000 homes across Puerto Rico and compared the estimated post-hurricane death rate to the mortality rate from the year before, showing a 62 percent increase in deaths from 2016 to 2017, the Post reports. The research indicated that the mortality rate was 14.3 deaths per 1,000 Puerto Rican residents.

The island of Puerto Rico remains devastated, eight months after Maria first made landfall. In April, an island-wide power outage knocked out electricity for hours. It was the latest setback as officials tried to restore power to the nearly 1.4 million customers who lost electric service during the storm. Most of the island had just recently had its power restored as the commonwealth attempts to rebuild its decimated electrical grid.